Our group had breakfast at 5:30, as
usual, after leaving our bags in the lobby.
At six we boarded the motor boats, said goodbye to the lovely staff at
Sukau Rainforest Lodge and returned to the town dock and our bus, “The Clouded
Leopard”.
We were on our way back to the Gomantong
Cave road to bird it again when up ahead we saw a small traffic jam and a
Borneo Pygmy Elephant standing by the highway!!
The elephants here are only about 6’ -8’ high, have larger ears than the
Asian one, big bellies and long tails - very cute! We all piled out of the bus and watched the
old bull. He just stood there looking
around - he looked confused, but finally he walked off into the shrubs. All the cars slowed down and gave him room -
I hope he was OK.
 |
Rose Ann & John, our wonderful leaders
with the BPE in the background |
We birded the cave road, finally seeing
the White Crested Hornbill, a large bird with a long bill and a fluffy white
head!. Rose Ann asked at the ticket office if we could walk a ways
toward the cave as we had seen good birds there several days ago. A couple of guys passed us carrying expensive
recording equipment. We returned to the
Cave headquarters and there was Sir David Attenborough himself, sitting in the
shade! I nodded and smiled at him and he
nodded back - we guess he is making a film for the BBC about the cave and its
swifts, nests and bats?
 |
| White Crested Hornbill |
 |
| Pill Bug Millipede rolled up |
 |
| unrolled- a cute 1" x 3" little tank! |
We drove into the town of Lahad Datu, the
fourth largest city in Sabah, where our
bus parked and we piled into a Chinese restaurant and sat down at an enormous
table with a large lazy Susan on it that was soon filled with plates of good
Chinese food. We stuffed ourselves,
dropped into a drug store for odds and ends and were led into the office of the
Borneo Rainforest Lodge (BRL) where we signed papers saying we would not hold
them responsible for various problems.
The luggage was then transferred into a truck and we all divided
ourselves into vans and Bob and l got into a comfortable truck for the three
hour drive.
 |
| Lunch |
We left the town and continued through
more palm oil plantations until we came to a turn to the Danum River
Conservation Area which is 220 square km in size, and where a lot of forestry
research is going on. Most of the area
was once logged, but will never be again and will remain a wonderful place for research
and bio tourism. Researchers have determined that the primary
forest here contains some 1200 tree species and 220+ birds species, a logged
and re-grown forest can have 1200 tree sp. and 160 birds sp., but a palm
plantation has only one tree sp. and only ~12 bird species - showing that the
timber industry, properly done, can maintain good bio diversity whereas the
palm oil industry is really destructive.
 |
| Whiskered Treeswift |
We drove on through dusty gravel roads
until about five and finally reached the BRL where we were greeted with cooling
ginger drinks and pandanus leis! Bob and
I were assigned Bungalow Standard 1 which is right by the main building. We have a large beautiful room, bathroom, and
a porch with a jungle view. The luxury bungalows have private Jacuzzis and cost
quite a bit more, but we’re happy with our standard. We settled into our room,
showered and changed, and headed for the bar.
Bob got a rum & Coke and I got a gin fizz. The dining area is set on a verandah
overlooking the Danum River. The amazing
buffet consists of areas of rice and curries, a grilling and wok stand where
you can order pretty much whatever you want cooked and an extensive section of
fruits and desserts.
 |
| Leis & ginger drinks |
 |
| Standard Room #1 |
 |
| Dinner Buffet decoration |
We did the List and went back and forth
trying most of the goodies in the buffet!
At 8 PM we climbed onto an open truck with benches along the sides for a
night drive. I was really tired by then
and really didn’t want to go, but …. The
night was warm and lovely and Paul, our spotter who sits up on the truck cab
top with a powerful light, is an expert in scanning the trees and bushes and
finding eye shine of various animals and birds.
We got partial views of a civet and several flying squirrels. The truck
got back at ten and we collapsed into bed.
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